Lose Yourself
by Chelsea Oz
Summary: An Au set during Independence Day of 1975 and a lonely Diane Chambers walks through Boston's bustling city streets to forget about her life for a while. Unbeknownst to her, she will see Sam Malone for the first time. Chapter 2 is up and it's from Sam's POV. Now it can be complete!
1. Chapter 1

It was a hot night that Independence Day in 1975. Diane Chambers had just graduated from her prep school with full honors and was well on her way to Boston University with a full academic scholorship. She had been the valedictorian and the people in attendence could vow that she gave the longest winded speech in the school's history. Diane didn't really care, she was proud of herself even though it seemed nobody else was. She knew for sure that her father was proud of her. He had been so sick with heart disease that he couldn't even make it to the ceremony. Her mother had come for both of them.

"I'm very proud of you, dear," her mother said with a gentle pat on her hand and a smile . Helen Chambers was not the most affectionate mother ever.

"Thank you, Mummy," Diane said as she smiled back at her mother. That little glimpse of maternal love made her feel special. Yet, the warmth wouldn't last long. Her mother had always had somewhere to go, someone to see, so off she would go and once again, leave her daughter with herself.

Diane had decided that on this night she was going to go out on the town. She wasn't really going to go out drinking at the bars even though she was eighteen now and able to if she chose. She just wanted to lose herself with the crowds of the city in Boston. Diane may have been lonely but maybe she wouldn't have to feel so alone. Her father was asleep by now and of course her mother was off somewhere; they wouldn't have cared that she was gone.

Diane's home wasn't far from the historical sights that speckled Boston. How she would love the field trips and the old city folklore! She felt that these places were a means of escape, an escape to the past. History, literature, art, it didn't matter how Diane lost herself, as long as she did, even just for a minute or an hour.

As she kept walking, the more people would crowd around. Most of them would be walking out of the bars and already drunk out of their minds. Diane didn't understand why anyone would want to be that way and maybe she didn't want to know those people. Then again, who was she to judge? She decided that if she had the choice mask her pain in education, others should have the choice to mask theirs in alcohol.

The fireworks had started just as she rounded the corner to Beacon Hill. She looked at her watch and couldn't believe how late it was. She looked up from her watch and found a couple of guys running up the stairs. Diane looked to see that she was in front of Melville's Restaurant and the stairs lead to a bar called Cheers.

"Hey, Sammy, hurry up!" The first guy shouted to the second guy.

"Okay," the second guy "Sammy" replied. Diane wasn't able to get a good look at the first guy but a white firework went off and she was able to see "Sammy's" face. He saw her, too. The firework seemed to take forever to dim but Diane didn't mind. He was a tall, handsome man and for a moment, he was looking at her. He flashed a smile and she smiled back.

"Yo, Sammy!" Oh, that man with him was obnoxious!

"Okay," Sammy said finally running to catch up with him. That smile had never left Diane's face as she turned and headed for home. That was an electrifying moment. She had felt an immeadiate connection to him and he must have felt it, too because he wouldn't had stared and smiled back at her like he did. She hoped and prayed that they would one day, somehow, be reunited. There was something about that man that made her feel special. Diane Chambers, the young woman who wanted to lose herself, got found in they eyes of Sam Malone.


	2. If We Ever Meet Again

So it was just another Fourth of July night for Sam Malone. The night cast a predictable humid blanket over New England which only made his sex drive rise. The warmer the weather, the harder his erection whenever he saw a female he liked. That was okay when he was inside the bar. The only woman in Cheers at that time was the ugly waitress: Carla Tortelli. The only thing she had going for her in Sam's mind was a sexual appetite that matched his own. Had she had just a fraction of a heart beating in her tiny body, it might make up for Little Miss Butterface but someone couldn't even say that about her. Carla made no bones about it that she was hot for Sam, however in Sam's alcholic mind, he was mean to her to get her out of his perfectly coiffed hair.

"You think you and I will ever hit the sheets?" She would ask.

"The only thing I want to hit you with is a truck!" He would fire back while she laughed. Sam could never fail to not make her like him. Then the time came that he just accepted that he liked her, too. Maybe a tough woman in his life was an alternative remedy for him. That didn't mean Carla was going to be the first; she was too agressive to start out with.

The sound of the fireworks snatched Sam up out of his alcoholic slumper that was starting. Next thing he knew, Dave Richards, his buddy, was nudging him off the barstool and was making a run out for it. Sam was in no mood to run so he just casually jogged behind him as the bolt of light shined up in his face up the stairs. A white firework that looked like lightning flashed before him or maybe he caught a glimpse of heaven because he could have swore he saw an angel.

"Come on Sammy!" He heard Dave call out for him but he was too busy paying attention to the blonde haired beauty that was standing pretty much in front of him. He smiled at her and she smiled back. Her teeth were so white they looked like diamonds.

"You are a diamond," he desparately wanted to say to her but Dave wouldn't let him stand there all night to make a move. Sam reluctantly ran with Dave again without ever saying a word to the blonde haired girl. He wanted to, though, and badly. He looked back only to find out she was walking back to wherever she must have come from.

"Dude, are you a sicko?!"

"What?" Sam asked as they began to slow down. They had finally made it to the park bench to watch the fireworks together.

"That girl back there, coming out of the bar," Dave explains as they sit down. "She was way too young. She looked like she was fourteen for Christ's sake!"

"She couldn't have been that young," Sam stated, incredulously.

"Um, yeah she was! Man, you need to cut back on your drinking!"

"Hey, shut up," Sam said getting pissed. He hated it whenever anyone mentioned his drinking. He looked down at his hand and saw his wedding band shine up in his face. "You think she noticed my ring?"

"Are you kidding me, man?" Dave asked with a snort. "_You_ don't even notice your ring half the time and like I said, she's too young."

"Look, you don't know. She may have meant to go in the bar."

"Maybe," Dave said, finally giving up a fight.

The rest of the night he sat on the bench and thought about her. What was her name? Did she live in this city? How old was she, really? Maybe one day Sam Malone would know a lot about Diane Chambers, if they ever meet again.


End file.
